Culture Clicks: Weekly Art News Roundup

The Los Angeles Times‘ Jori Finkel reported that Jeffrey Deitch’s first show at MOCA will be, “Dennis Hopper Double Standard,” curated by Julian Schnabel, opening on July 11, 2010. Deitch officially starts his new post as museum director on June 1st and the exhibition is being organized with faster than average speed, due in part to actor/artist Hopper’s ailing health. The show will include work from all periods of Hopper’s diverse trajectory as an artist, including his famous 1960’s photographs of celebrities, Abstract Expressionist paintings, Pop Art assemblages, and street art paintings and photography from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Some question Hopper’s validity as an artist worthy of his own retrospective, but Deitch defends Hopper as a Renaissance man who blurs the lines between many disciplines.

The New York Times’ Carol Vogelreported that MoMA bought a 50% interest in Matthew Barney’s, “Drawing Restraint Archive.” Barney started the epic series while still a student at Yale in 1987 and it includes video recordings of all of his performances, along with drawings, sculptures, and objects made out of materials such as petroleum wax and self-lubricating plastic. The other half of the archive was purchased by MoMA trustee, Maja Oeri, on behalf of the Laurenz Foundation based in Basel, Switzerland. Firm details of the sharing agreement have yet to be announced, but the archive is scheduled to go on view at the Schaulager on June 12, in conjunction with Art Basel.

ARTINFO reported that the tragic fashion muse, Isabella Blow’s, fabulous wardrobe will be hitting the auction block at Christie’s in London on September 15, 2010. Blow was famous for her uncanny sense of humor and supernatural talent for spotting up and coming fashion talent. She worked as an editor at Vogue and Tatler and was frequently seen sporting Philip Treacy’s surrealist hats, that more often than not bordered on the absurd. Blow sadly took her own life in 2007 as a result of debilitating depression, despite (or perhaps due in part to) her shimmering presence in the world of high fashion.